Last Updated on January 16, 2022 by Griselda M.
You wonder why do Yorkies sleep a lot? Is a high amount of sleep connected to some health issues? Find the answer in this concise article!
Every breed of dog which is very active and has the joy of running around and playing with its owners needs a good sleep. The Yokie being a tiny dog breed doesn’t require too much food. However, their sleeping and playing cycles are long.
So, how to manage the sleep of your Yorkie and acknowledge these cycles? Read further and find out!
Table of Contents
How Much Do Yorkies Sleep?
Yorkshire Terriers are delightful pets. They are not just little, but their personality is sometimes far larger than their physical stature. Many owners feel Yorkies are sensitive creatures since they’re so little, and they may become concerned if they start napping more than normal.
Yorkies are accustomed to sleeping a lot. If they’re sleeping more than normal, it might be due to health issues such as hormone imbalances, anxiety, or sadness, or it could simply be because they’re getting older.
The length of time that each Yorkie spends sleeping varies from dog to dog, but a reasonable rule of thumb is that Yorkie puppies sleep for 16 to 22 hours every day.
Each day, a healthy adult Yorkie will sleep for between 13 to 18 hours. If you’re not at home, this might take a long time. Yorkies are also known for napping for long periods during the day. Other dog breeds, on average, sleep for 14 hours a day, so adult Yorkies aren’t that far off the average.
Why Do Yorkies Sleep So Much?
So, Yorkies do sleep a lot, but why do they? Many owners foresee this as a cause or a symptom of some health disease. We will go through the top causes of an extended sleeping of a Yorkie. If any of these get your attention, it’s best to contact your veterinarian.
1. Yorkie being a Yorkie
It’s difficult to be so little and to cross distances, your legs must work extra hard, and if you want anything, you’ll have to put in double the effort to gain your human’s attention.
Being a Yorkie takes a lot of time and energy, and it’s enough to exhaust anybody. Nonetheless, a hyperactive bundle of fur and fury who loves nothing more than playing and getting zoomies.
If your Yorkie is sleeping a lot, it might simply be that it has been more active than normal or that it has had an extra exercise that exhausted it. Adult Yorkies have an 18-hour sleep time restriction, so there’s no need to be concerned about your pet’s health.
2. Health issues – Hormonal disbalance possibility
Hormonal imbalances or thyroid disorders in dogs, particularly Yorkies, can cause them to slumber for lengthy periods. If your Yorkie seems to be sleeping more than normal, look for any of the following symptoms, which might suggest a hormonal problem.
- Hair loss that isn’t explained
- Getting enough water
- Urinating more often
- Weakness
- Lethargy
Take your Yorkie to the doctor for blood testing if you fear they have a hormone issue. Your puppy should be back to its regular, exuberant self after the imbalance is corrected.
Other causes of extended sleeping periods are diseases. If your Yorkie has diabetes, anemia (iron deficiency), or a viral or bacterial infection, it may sleep for considerably longer than usual. Yorkies do this to try to alleviate any discomfort they may be in because of their disease.
Take your Yorkie to the vet if you feel he or she is unwell and sleeping more than normal as a result. Because your dog can’t tell you what’s wrong, many diseases in dogs are difficult to diagnose without a blood test.
3. Mood swings and Yorkie becoming an adult
When a Yorkie is missing some person or it’s bored or is experiencing a change in their day-to-day habits, they may be depressed, causing them to sleep for longer periods than usual. Lethargy and inactivity, as well as changes in feeding and sleeping patterns, are further signs of depression in dogs
Fortunately, depression in dogs is rarely severe or long-lasting if it is handled properly and given the time to recover. You may need to take your Yorkie to the vet for treatment if it has been depressed for a long time.
Older Yorkies, especially those over the age of ten or twelve, may sleep for longer periods than younger Yorkies. This is because the energy levels decline as dog’s age, but it might also be due to a chronic condition that makes them less active.
Giving your aged Yorkie the proper nutrition, frequent vet visits, and enough love and care may help them regain some of their vitality.
4. Attention deficit and boredom
Yorkies, as we all know, enjoy being the center of attention. If you’ve been working a lot and haven’t had time to play or cuddle with your pet as much as you’d want, they may be pouting and sleeping more to attempt to earn your attention and compassion.
Yorkies are clever and lively dogs. Yorkies will become bored fast if they do not have enough time to play, exercise, or connect with humans or other dogs. A bored Yorkie may regard sleep as an easy method to pass the time when there is nothing else to do.
Best Yorkie Sleeping Schedule
Adult dogs sleep for a block of time at night and then take irregular naps during the day, unlike adult humans who sleep for one 6-to-8-hour block of time.
They wake up when they hear a disturbance they need to investigate, smell a delicious aroma coming from the kitchen, need to grab a drink, or just need to reposition themselves.
Although some of these naps will culminate in a deep slumber, most afternoon naps will be lighter. You may hear snoring or see spastic movements because of your dreams.
So, the best sleeping schedule can’t be defined. Many factors affect the sleeping schedule, and you can’t control them all. It’s best to housetrain your Yorkie, take him on regular walks to spend that excess energy, and do regular veterinarian checkups if you spot a change in the sleeping schedule.
How To Get A Yorkie To Sleep Through Night?
If you have issues with the sleeping schedule of your Yorkie, the first thing is to check their health at your local veterinarian. On the other hand, if everything is alright with the health of your beloved Yorkie, we will give you some tips that you should practice and fix this issue. Sometimes the Yorkie can bark endlessly at night, so you can practice these tips for that as well.
- When it’s bedtime, try to keep everything calm and don’t produce stimulants that can wake up your Yorkie.
- Make the bed of your Yorkie full of comfort and blankets. Make it a paradise for your Yorkie.
- Give your Yorkie toys or something to chew on. Fill the surrounding with different rubber toys and plushy things so it can feel like it got a companion around him.
- Before sleep go for the regular peeing and pooping. For best results, housetraining your Yorkie.
- Keep their bed around you, give them the possibility of seeing you, that way your Yorkie will get calm.
Some types of smells and oils can calm your Yorkie, but we don’t recommend them because that’s not a natural way of dealing with this problem.
Conclusion
Yorkies do sleep a lot, and they love it that way. For a Yorkie, it’s normal to take naps and sleep throughout the day. The 13-hour sleeping schedule is normal.
However, if you spot that the sleeping is getting excessive and the sleeping schedule of your Yorkie has changed, we recommend doing a veterinarian appointment. If your Yorkie is having some health issues that relate to long sleeps the vet will tell you how to deal with them.
We hope that our information helped you in answering your questions, if you have any thoughts feel free to comment on them below!